This invention relates to a method for preventing or treating pseudo-membranous colitis which comprises administering yeasts of the genus Saccharomyces.
Pseudo-membranous colitis (PMC) is a rare but severe disease, often mortal, which is generally caused by a toxin-producing germ of the genus Clostridium, especially Clostridium difficile, and which occurs mainly in patients who have been submitted to longer or drastic treatment by antibiotics (about 1% of the cases). PMC is a life-threatening disease which consists in production of pseudomembranes on the colon due to clostridial toxins. PMC has recently been recognized as a specific disease entity:
PMC contrary to its name, is not included in colitis which usually designates less severe diseases of the colon such as stomach ache with diarrhea, constipation, abdominal distension and the like;
PMC is particularly distinguished from antibiotic-associated diarrhea and certain forms of antibiotic-associated colitis;
(M. A. SANDE and G. L. MANDELL in GOODMAN and GILMAN'S, 6th Edition, p. 1186, Macmillan Publishing Co. Inc.;
T. W. O'CONNOR, Pseudomembranous Enterocolitis, Dis. Col. & Rect., Sept. 1981, 24, No. 6, p. 445-8).
Antibiotics such as clindamycin, lincomycin, ampicillin and the like have often been reported causing PMC (J. G. Bartlett et al., Antibiotic-associated colitis, Clinics in Gastroenterology, September 1979, vol. 8, No. 3 p. 783-801; F. J. Tedesco et al., Clindamycin and colitis., Ann. Intern. Med., 1975, 82, 279). Germs of the species Clostridium difficile or Clostridium sordellii and their toxins are usually found in the stools of patients who develop PMC.
Prior attempts have been made to cure this disease and several therapeutic agents were proposed particularly vancomycine or metronidazole (see Bartlett above, and J. R. D. Brown; Brit. Med. J. 283, p. 1334, Nov. 14, 1981).
The results were interesting but not sufficient inasmuch as relapse was often observed.
It is also known that yeasts of the genus Saccharomyces such as Saccharomyces boulardii or Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been used for long in the prevention and treatment of minor G.I. tract disturbances (antibiotic-associated diarrhea or colitis). These yeasts are generally administered via oral route in the form of capsules containing from 0.050 to 0.200 g of substance, the daily doses being usually of about 0.100 to 0.400 g for an adult.
However, it has never been proposed up to now that any type of yeast could treat PMC.